Building The Future Show - Radio / TV / Podcast

Kevin Horek: Welcome back to the show.

Today we have Mona Akmal.

She's the c e o and Co-founder at Falcon.

Mona, welcome to the

Mona Akmal: show.

Thank you so much, Kevin.

It's great to be here.

Kevin Horek: Yeah.

I'm excited to have you on the show.

I think.

What you guys are doing at Falcon is
actually really innovative and cool.

But maybe before we dive into all that,
let's get to know you a little bit better

and start off with where you grew up.

Mona Akmal: Yeah, let's do it.

Uh, I grew up in Pakistan.

Okay, great.

Cool.

Um, yeah, and I moved here when I was 20.

Okay.

Kevin Horek: Wow.

So walk us through what
made you move to America.

Mona Akmal: Yeah, so, you know, I
was always, uh, uh, the odd one out

in Pakistan, I guess, in that I was
a girl that really liked computer

science and mathematics and physics.

And uh, also I'm very independent.

I don't like being told what to do and,
uh, uh, Pakistan's a very communal.

Country and I appreciate
that, but it wasn't really my.

Um, vibe.

And so it was very important for me to,
uh, move to the US one because it was the

technology hub in the world at the time.

Sure.

And second, I wanted to live a
pretty independent and free life.

And third, I wanted to
support my mom financially.

Uh, and actually, you know, the story
of moving here was pretty funny.

I was in my second year in undergrad and.

Uh, one of my friends as a way to
haze me, uh, made a resume, uh, for

me and submitted it to Microsoft
and didn't even tell me about it.

And I came back, uh, from my classes
one day and got a phone call from

a recruiter and he was calling from
Seattle and we had an informational,

they flew me to Dubai, they made
me an offer and I was still in my.

Sophomore year in undergrad.

And so then I was in the Mad Rush,
did 22 units every quarter, graduated

in three years from undergrad and
moved here, uh, not knowing anyone

in the us uh, at the age of 20.

Wow.

Yeah.

Wow.

Kevin Horek: So what did you
take in university and why?

Mona Akmal: Yeah, so I did, uh, uh, my
focus was predominantly, uh, computer

science and actually social sciences.

Uh, so the reason for computer science was
I'm a pretty analytical, logical person.

I like to build things.

Okay.

And, um, also because there's an element
of computer science that's very creative

when you're building cool products.

Uh, sure.

Then social sciences was my minor
because I've always been a student

of history and psychology and
organizational behavior because I don't

really understand people intuitively.

So I have to almost learn it through
my brain why humans do what they do.

Um, and yeah, that was, I'm
really glad I did that actually.

Kevin Horek: Okay, very cool.

So, You obviously rose in
the ranks at Microsoft.

You were there a long time.

Walk us through kind of your journey
there up until becoming, you know,

CEO and, and what you're doing today.

Because a lot of people, Microsoft's
one of the top companies to work for.

Mm-hmm.

A lot of them was right out
the rest of their career there.

Mona Akmal: Totally.

I mean, many of my closest friends
are still at Microsoft and I got to

know them, you know, 20, 25 years
ago when I first started there.

So, So, um, Microsoft will always
remain, uh, you know, my first love,

I loved working at the company.

I, but my MO at Microsoft was always
working on V1 products and, you know, when

I had been there for 12 years, having done
four different zero to one, uh, products.

I realize that that's
actually where I am happiest.

Uh, I like to go from
nothing to something.

That's when I'm in peak performance
mode and I am not particularly

motivated by comfort or an easy life.

I don't really give a about money.

Uh, I do care about learning
things I care about.

Working with people I really like
and I'm not very compromising

as a person, just fyi.

Uh, and so Microsoft didn't feel
like I was gonna be maximally

learning and working with the type
of people I was looking to work with.

More entrepreneurial.

And that's when I decided to leave,
but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.

And so I did the Goldilocks
approach, which is I'm gonna

go try a bunch of stuff.

I don't know you and generally, I
don't feel like the big things in life

you can think your way into, you just
have to try a few things on for size.

A hundred percent.

Yeah.

Right.

And so worked for three very different
CEOs with three very different missions.

Mostly because I was putting
myself through CEO school,

uh, lots of hard knocks.

Uh, and then I felt ready, and
that's when I started Falcon.

Okay.

Kevin Horek: So how did you climb
up, come up with the idea of her

Falcon and what exactly is it?

Mona Akmal: Mm.

Yeah.

So, uh, first, you know, I wish I
could tell you a founder story that

was, you know, I was couch surfing
and I thought, why aren't other

people able to couch surfing like me?

And that's how Airbnb started.

I do not have that founder story.

I guess maybe because I'm old.

Um, So for me it was really
about one, what is an area

that I understand really well?

Uh, what is an area where I have a deep
network and a competitive advantage in who

I can hire and who I can raise money from.

Like, for instance, I have no
business building a consumer business

because that's not my background.

I've always been on the business and
even of consumer products, right?

I, my network is, Engineers and scientists
and investors who invest in deep tech with

data and analytics and machine learning.

So it was important for me to pick an
idea that was in a space where I had

a competitive advantage as a founder
compared to someone else doing this idea.

Um, I also wanted to pick an idea.

I, I personally don't believe when
you start a company, you pick an

idea, you actually pick a space.

Makes sense.

Yeah, right.

Kevin Horek: I would agree with that.

Mona Akmal: And then iterate your way.

And unfortunately, right, like so
many founders and we talk about

like someone had an aha moment and
then they built a company around

it and then it became a unicorn.

And that's rarely how it goes, right?

Yeah.

So the space I picked was I wanted
to right size the ROI on data

because I feel that companies hoard
and hoard and hoard information.

But they don't actually
know what to do with it.

So the way they work, the way they
make decisions, the things they spend

their time on have not meaningfully
changed since they invested a gazillion

dollars in their snowflake and
five Tran and D B T infrastructure.

And I wanted to right size that the,
that's really how the concept started.

We were not a company that was
focused on go to market data at all.

When we first started, we were
an augmented analytics company.

And then we, uh, iterated and realized
that the business stakeholders that care

most about using their data to become
more efficient and get more shit done are

revenue leaders and marketing leaders.

Because guess what?

They are compensated on their
ability to get shit done.

It's not as black and, yeah.

Interesting.

White in engineering and product
management and design, right?

Yeah.

And so that was a very pragmatic
decision to go after people that have

an urgent need on using their data and
actually have budget to buy software.

Interesting.

So they could use their data.

Not romantic at all, Kevin.

Kevin Horek: No, but I think, I
think that the reality is is most

startups aren't always right and
they don't have to be, and I.

Selfishly, I prefer solving hard
problems, even if it's not really

the sexiest type of company, I guess.

Right?

Yeah.

Because I think there's a lot of
really good problems to be solved

that are completely unsexy, but
are technically challenging.

Mm-hmm.

And those are, in my opinion, are
more enjoyable than, you know,

let's build a chat app or whatever.

Right.

Like, there's a million

Mona Akmal: of them.

Right.

I love it.

Uh, we are aligned, we
think the same way on this.

Uh, totally.

Kevin Horek: So walk us through how does
a customer actually use Falcon maybe from

like day one, and then give us maybe like
after a month or three months or a quarter

or six months, a year kind of thing.

And how does it evolve over time?

Mona Akmal: Yeah.

So I'll give you a little bit
of a, a 32nd detour before I

get the answer your question.

I promise I will.

Perfect.

Uh, so, you know, generally venture
backed companies, conventional wisdom is

pick one very small use case and Yeah.

Uh, you know, get that right and
then scale the shit out of it, right?

Yep.

Because that aligns with the
venture capital, uh, timeline.

Yep.

Uh, we did not do that because
I did not want to be one more

tool that does one, 100th of what
a customer really wants done.

That's actually one of the
biggest problems in go to market

is there are too many tools that
do only bitty little things.

I

Kevin Horek: interesting
that you said that.

So how did you.

Sell that because that's hard to

Mona Akmal: do, Uhhuh Well, so,
um, that's a great question.

I think that there are investors
for all types of visionaries

and all types of founders.

You just have to know.

What the fit looks like.

It's like dating, right?

Sure.

Yeah.

There, I believe there is
someone out there for everyone.

Sure.

But, uh, some of us that are more
picky have to search a little

bit harder to find our one.

Right?

Yeah.

And so we were very, very particular.

We actually researched and stocked our
future investors for 12 months prior to

even reaching out to them because Okay.

So you didn't know

Kevin Horek: your current
investors before you?

So walk us through that journey.

Sorry, I keep asking you questions, but

Mona Akmal: Yeah.

So I'll give you an example.

Okay.

Uh, Greylock was our, uh, lead
investor in the seed round.

Sweet.

Yeah.

And why we picked them
was because I had been.

Stalking two of their partners
and what the thesis that they were

putting out, what content they were
sharing, and also what types of

companies they were investing in.

Okay.

And what I learned from all those
experiences and observations was

that this is the type of investor
that plays for the long haul.

They're not looking for a quick exit,
they're looking for the big picture

because for them, A 300 million exit or
a 500 million exit is not interesting.

Right.

Interesting.

Um, in a lot of the smaller
VCs, that is not true.

They're looking for a quicker turnaround
and even a little bit of return is

worth it, but, That's why we wanted
to go with a firm that thinks bigger

and um, has a little bit of ideology
behind their investment, right?

They are thesis investors,
not general purpose.

We will invest in anything
that is doing well.

Um, so that was the process.

And then obviously, like any
good seller would, right?

Um, my first call to them was through
the most senior person I could

possibly find that was connected
to both of us because that shows.

Um, a certain level of ability to hustle.

Right.

So I found the c e O of Accolade,
um, uh, who was also one of

the co-founders of Concur.

Um, and had him make the
introduction because he knew me well.

Right.

Got it.

Okay.

Smart.

Then I actually had my entire talk
track tailored around the content

that I had read from the investor, the
partner that I was actually speaking to.

So he felt like he was talking to someone
he already knew because I had done the

hard work of educating myself on him.

So it felt like I was familiar because I
was literally saying words he had said.

Right.

Okay.

Interesting.

Um, and so on and so forth.

That's just the start of the story.

Kevin Horek: Okay.

Any other highlights along that
journey of recruiting or, uh, you know,

kind of corralling those investors?

Mona Akmal: So, one, I don't
believe in a high volume game.

So, you know, in our seed timeframe
we spoke with a total of five firms.

Um, in our series A timeframe, we
spoke with a total of eight firms.

Uh, because to me, if you do your
due diligence and your research about

the firms and the partners, You can
actually rule out a lot of shitty

conversations without ever having them.

Uh, and interesting.

So, and, and then really going in,
uh, so going in fully understanding

what their puts and takes are, right?

Because it's a sales call, right?

Remember, they are selling you money
and you are selling them the privilege

of being a part of your company.

As long as you understand that
trade, you can really make every

conversation streamlined for that.

Kevin Horek: No, that that makes sense.

I've never heard it put like quite
like that, but that makes a lot of

sense and I think that's actually
a really good way to look at it.

Mona Akmal: Uhhuh.

It's also, I think, for founders
critical because fundraising is.

Brutal experience.

Yes.

Especially, you know, you, you feel like
you're putting yourself out there because

your company is not different from you.

You are your company
and your company is you.

So when an investor passes on you, it
feels like personal rejection, like

someone telling you, you know, youre
ugly or you are stupid, or whatever.

Right?

Yeah.

And so that's why actually,
I'm such a believer in.

Doing your research upfront because
there's a real opportunity cost.

It's not just the, the shitty
meeting you had, it is how much

you spiraled after that meeting.

Yeah.

And how much it distracted you
and how you leaked all your energy

that you could have spent having
a good conversation, you know?

Yeah.

Kevin Horek: Yeah, no, I think
that's actually really good advice.

So I want to get back to
the product a little bit.

I asked you a few minutes ago
about, so like how does somebody

actually get started and then walk
us through using the product, you

know, in the coming weeks and months?

Mona Akmal: Yeah, absolutely.

So, uh, Falcon is a
multi-use case product.

So unlike single use case products,
we solve a lot of problems.

And essentially the value proposition is.

We're going to use all your go to
market data, sales, marketing, customer

success, product data, um, and we are
going to help you automate intelligently,

um, key aspects of how you generate
pipeline and how you generate revenue.

Okay?

So the use cases pretty much cover
the entire customer life cycle from

you reaching out to the customer
for the first time all the way

to them renewing their contract.

So, We do not, we are not a P L G motion.

You actually have to talk to us,
uh, how to get your hands on Falcon.

You would talk to a person on our
sales team so that we can figure

out what use case are you, is
your top business priority with

respect to revenue generation?

Based on that, you will
buy a portion of Falcon.

Our implementation takes about two weeks.

At the end of those two weeks you are
trained and now you're ready to go.

And, Uh, generate more revenue, more
efficiently, what that would look like.

And then 30 days, 90 days, 120 days
in, often most of our customers will

expand because now there's another
problem that's blocking them from

generating revenue efficiently.

So a very simple example here could
be, let's say I'm talking to a.

An enterprise SaaS company, and they
tell me our biggest problem is we

don't have enough top of funnel because
we don't really understand which

channels and campaigns are effective.

Our sales team is doing
outbound prospecting, but it's

not resulting in pipeline.

We will then deploy our pipeline
generation automation solution,

which will automate a lot
of what a good rep would do.

It would provide intelligence to
marketing teams about which channels

and campaigns to invest in, in order
to generate pipeline, and we will

automate a lot of the process of
creating and launching those campaigns.

Okay.

About 60 days into that, you
are now seeing the results of

more pipeline being generated.

Now we can have a conversation
about, okay, what is your conversion

rate from pipeline to customers?

Right.

A and how much would you
want that to improve?

And then get into our sales module
for how do we intelligently automate

the process from pipeline to
closed one, and so on and so forth.

Got it.

Kevin Horek: Okay.

So do you have specific verticals
of customers that are like kind of

ideal for Falcon or does it not really

Mona Akmal: matter?

Yeah, that's a great question.

So any company that has a marketing
and sales motion to generate

revenue is a good customer for us.

Okay.

Uh, we do not sell the consumer
companies because obviously you don't

sell Instagram through sales reps.

Right?

Right.

Um, so we predominantly focus
on companies that sell software

or hardware to other businesses.

Um, Using a sales team and marketing,
traditional marketing efforts.

So in that, there's a vast,
uh, set of verticals, right?

So Zendesk is one of our customers.

They're a customer support,
uh, service and the crm, uh,

entrust is another customer.

They are a cybersecurity company, right?

The only thing that's common between
these two verticals is they sell

technology, software, or hardware.

They sell it through a Salesforce
and a marketing engine.

Kevin Horek: Okay.

Interesting.

So can you maybe give us
some other examples of the

modules people can, um, buy?

Cuz you have a bunch of,

Mona Akmal: bunch more.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So essentially we have a marketing
performance module, which is all about.

Right sizing your return on
investment for your marketing

spend, whether that it's events or
digital marketing, doesn't matter.

We have an SDR r uh, module where
we will automate 70% of what N S D

R does to book more meetings for you
as a company and to make sure those

meetings actually turn into pipeline.

Then we have a pipeline and sales
forecasting and sales productivity

module, which is all about being able
to forecast revenue, identify, uh,

risk in your deal so that you can
predictably hit your revenue targets.

Then we have a module, which is for
driving customer expansion, um, by using

your product usage data, identifying
which of your current customers

are ready for expansion, and then
prepping your sales team to go get

that expansion dollar in your bank.

And then our last module is around,
uh, revenue protection, which is

preventing churn by driving customer
engagement and customer adoption.

Kevin Horek: Okay, so I, I get,
obviously it depends on which

modules and such that I'm using.

Mm-hmm.

But how, how do you guys price
and monetize the platform?

Mona Akmal: Yeah.

So, you know, uh, uh, I'll, my 2 cents
on this are until you get to your first.

Five to 7 million in a r r.

Mm-hmm.

The only thing that matters about your
pricing is your core business model.

Right?

Because you're trying to figure out if,
if your product is valuable enough that

you can charge $30,000 or $50,000, then.

Your go to market motion can be a
sales oriented marketing motion, right?

If your product ends up being something
that is sold for a thousand dollars,

or I would say sub $10,000, you
cannot have a business model that's

predicated on a sales team because
it's not cost effective, right?

Right.

So currently our pricing is based on
modules which are essentially inferred

from the number of people or the book
of business that we are helping improve.

So, for instance, our, uh, SDR
productivity module is a function

of how many SDRs you have in your
team, because that is how much

value we are gonna deliver, right?

We do not do seat based licenses
because I find those to be extremely

annoying for data companies especially.

It's your data, right?

You should be able to use it.

We shouldn't hold it hostage.

Um, so we price by module and each
module is priced by the size of your team

or the size of your book of business.

Kevin Horek: Okay.

No, no, that makes sense.

So walk us through a little bit of maybe.

The types of insights and data and maybe
just simplify, just reporting mm-hmm.

That I, yeah.

Is it like a dashboard or,
or walk us through that.

Mona Akmal: Yeah, so actually I
think I, I think most dashboards

are garbage, so we try to push our
insights in an operational way.

So let's say, here's an example.

I am an account manager, and I am
about, let's say I sell Slack, okay?

And I am about to talk to a customer
who has been using Slack and paying

us, let's say, a hundred bucks a month.

Okay?

Um, first of all, as an account manager
at Slack, I am assigned 500 accounts.

Okay?

How do I prioritize which
account to talk to this week?

Falcon will automatically tell
you, here are the top 10 accounts

that where usage is going up.

They just signed up for your webinar.

We think there's a high propensity
that they are going to want to

have an expansion conversation,
therefore you should prioritize them.

You're not looking at a dashboard.

You're literally looking in Salesforce
and getting recommendations.

Here are the 10 out of the 500
accounts you should talk to.

Sweet.

Okay.

Second, you set up a meeting.

Now let's say your meeting is showing up.

Uh, you, you're gonna have a meeting
with, uh, your customer who's using

your product Slack in 15 minutes.

You need to be prepared for it, right?

Yeah.

Traditional selling is like, oh,
I'm gonna look up who the title and

persona of the person I'm talking to
is so that I don't look like a dummy.

But when you're selling software,
you actually need to know how

they've been using your product.

Right?

Sure.

Yeah.

So what Falcon does is 15 minutes
before a sales rep is gonna have

a call with a customer about
expansion, we send you a quick.

NLP based dossier that is saying
here are the key things that

have happened in this account.

They recently added 30 users to Slack and,
um, they have, uh, increased their Slack

messaging by 75% in the last two months.

And by the way, they are really interested
in your webinars that are talking about

your Slack and Zoom integration right now.

Imagine how much better prepared
that sales rep is gonna be

when they go in that call.

Yeah.

Kevin Horek: Yeah.

Okay.

It's a no-brainer then, right?

Totally.

Yeah.

That's, that's interesting.

Yeah.

Because yeah, and finding that
manually obviously is doable.

It just takes a ton of time and effort.

Yep.

Mona Akmal: And let's be
honest, nobody does it.

No.

Kevin Horek: Cuz nobody has a time and.

That's right.

Interesting.

No, that's fair.

The, the one thing that I, I pointed
out to you, um, earlier before we

were kind of recording, is you post
your own videos to social media.

Mm-hmm.

Which a not a lot of CEOs do a
lot of people outsource their

social media post to somebody?

Internal, external?

Maybe a bit of both.

Mm-hmm.

Why do you think it's so important
to post your own content?

Mona Akmal: Yeah, absolutely.

So, um, a few things.

One, I believe that when a company
is young, the company's brand is

not known, but it is much easier
to build the founder's brand

because the founder and the company
are synonymous with each other.

Right.

So that makes sense.

Me posting videos is really me building
awareness about Falcon through.

My outreach to the world, right?

So it is me doing service for my company.

Uh, I was sharing with you offline.

I'm a deeply introverted person, and,
uh, the prospect of posting videos was

scary as hell for me for a long time.

And actually our head of content, Tai, has
been extremely encouraging and supportive,

uh, and, and, and kind of kicks me in the.

Ask every two days saying, Hey,
you need to post something.

Just go from the heart and and
share something that is useful.

The second thing I've realized is that
I do actually have a unique point of

view to share, which is completely
aligned with what we're trying to do.

At Falcon because I'm not a
traditional sales leader, right?

Right.

My background's product and engineering.

So outside, many people in sales calls
have been very curious about how I

look at the world, and to me it's
the only way I know how to look at

the world, but, It's, it's obvious to
me that they have not thought about

it that way because they've been in
sales or marketing their whole lives.

Right.

And I'm coming in as the outsider.

So that outsider perspective has
been, um, surprisingly helpful

for people that are practitioners.

And so being able to turn that into
authentic content that stands for Falcon.

Was, was, was really important.

And last thing I'll say is video is to
me a lot more powerful than text content

because you can communicate so much more
about like, how trustworthy you are, how

open you are, what your brand traits are.

Yeah, brand traits are much harder
to come through in a text post

versus in, um, a video post.

So that's why I'm a fan.

Kevin Horek: No, that's interesting.

And people can actually just see
your facial expressions and just

how you move and just your tone
and like they can usually tell if.

Like how somebody, if it's just
like you're reading a script, right?

Yes.

And you don't care, or, or you're
really pumped about it and passionate

about it, where that doesn't
really come across in text very

Mona Akmal: well.

Totally, totally agree.

So

Kevin Horek: how do you come
up with that content then?

Because if you're producing
content that often Yeah.

That's hard

Mona Akmal: to do.

Yeah.

So Kevin, it's so interesting.

I feel like, you know, um, as a, as
a founder, you are in a time warp.

Right.

If you asked me, I've, we
started Falcon three years ago.

This three years in terms of growth
and learning feels more like 25 years.

Sure.

Right.

So I actually have the opposite
problem where I have too many

things that I'm learning and I'm
excited by that I wanna share and I

have to pair it back a little bit.

Um, but one thing that has
been really helpful is.

We identified the three key
themes that I wanna talk about.

Okay.

These are themes that are personally
very, um, exciting for me.

I think about them regardless of
whether I'm gonna post or not, right?

Okay.

These are just topics I care deeply about.

And these are topics that are a hundred
percent aligned with Falcon's mission.

So, uh, topic number one
is facts not fiction.

Uh, topic number two is,
United instead of siloed.

And topic number three is efficient
growth, not growth at all costs, right?

These are things I believe in, things
I think about regardless of Falcon, and

so you'll notice that a lot of my posts
actually come from these core three

themes that are very topical and top of
mind for me at any given time anyway.

Kevin Horek: Interesting.

So the growth at all costs,
comment or topic mm-hmm.

Is obviously kind of a bit controversial.

Yes.

In arguably, maybe even in a good way.

Mm-hmm.

Why do you think it's so important
to not have growth at all costs?

Mm-hmm.

Mona Akmal: Yeah.

So this is, I mean, uh, this can
be a two hour conversation, right?

Yeah.

I know it's a kinda worms, right?

So one thing that, uh, at the macro
scale, right, we have built our entire

economy, global economy at this point
with growth at all costs, which actually

results in consumption at all costs.

Right?

Yep.

The only way we can feed this
mindless growth engine is to

consume, consume, consume, consume.

And to me, the very real, uh, effects
of this mindless consumption are the

destruction of our planet, right?

So it's that fundamental.

I think growth at all costs.

It corrodes people.

It corrodes our planet.

It turns us into
comfortable, lazy, uh, blobs.

That's not why we are here.

Right?

So that's how, uh,
existential this is for me.

This has nothing to do
with companies even.

It has to do with this, um, infrastructure
that we live in where if we are not

running faster, we are somehow dying.

Right.

Right.

That's insane to me.

So that's one very important
reason why not growth at all

costs and then sustainable growth.

To me, for instance, the tech
meltdown that we have seen

in the last two years Yeah.

Should be reason enough to not
indulge in growth at all costs.

Because who does that serve?

It doesn't serve the founders.

They are ingesting capital.

They simply cannot responsibly spend.

It doesn't serve employees
because they are being overhired

to to do jobs that don't exist.

And therefore, even if they feel
safe in the job, they really should

not feel safe in the job because
there is no job for them to do.

They've been overhired.

Right, right.

Um, it doesn't do well for, uh, public
investors, for, uh, civilians like

you and I investing because, uh, when
the stock market hits the bed, because

of all these over-hyped companies.

It's people like you and me that lose out.

It's not the big, uh,
hedge funds that lose out.

So it's bad for the public.

Right?

Yeah.

Um, the only people that actually
make out of this, uh, with a lot of

money is either VCs or institutional
investors in the public markets.

And, sorry, but like, that's
not the God I worship.

Uh, no.

I a hundred percent

Kevin Horek: agree with you.

It's interesting.

That's the road I usually take too.

It's just, it's a lot harder of a road
to go on than, you know, obviously

just growth at all costs, right?

Yes.

And so I think I, I get why people
pick the other one, but totally, I

a hundred percent agree with like,
what you're, you're doing and,

and why that, why you picked that.

Now that's, that's interesting,
but it's rare, right?

Mm-hmm.

Not a lot of people pick

Mona Akmal: that.

Of course.

So, because I think you have to ask,
right, what are most people's motivations

for getting into the business?

For me, the motivation is not,
uh, I want to be a billionaire.

I couldn't care less.

I already have all the things that I want.

I think that's all, honestly.

Maybe also one of the benefits
of being an older founder.

Right.

That, um, I've done everything
on my bucket list already.

Uh, right.

There's, so it goes to motivations.

Why are you doing what you're doing?

Yeah.

Kevin Horek: Interesting.

So, but how do you, because it's
hard to go, always kind of like

against the grain sometimes, right?

So like, how do you keep that up and that
motivation and know that you're doing.

The right thing for yourself a lot of
the times because at the end of the

day, you kind of just sell yourself out.

If you, if you flip and you know that
you're uncomfortable with making that

change, like if you're fine with that,
then fine, that's a whole other thing.

But mm-hmm.

If you, you know, cuz like, it,
it can be challenging, especially

when times are tough right

Mona Akmal: now.

Totally.

I think that a few things, right?

Uh, first is I really do believe,
um, Difficulty should never

stand in the way of purpose.

Uh, yeah.

Okay.

So, and there are ways to train yourself,
uh, to get comfortable with what's

difficult because no big thing is
achieved, uh, without hardship, right?

Sure.

Yeah.

So, and training yourself to be
comfortable when your mind and your body

are screaming and saying, no, no, no.

Too much enough.

Right?

So one, invest in.

Mental and physical toughness,
and I do actually believe

both of them serve each other.

If you are physically tough, your mind
becomes tougher because it has evidence

that when your body is in distress,
you still recover and you get stronger.

Right?

So one is training for physical and
mental toughness because the tougher

you are, the farther you can go, the
harder the problems you can solve.

Kevin Horek: Second, sorry.

Sorry, can I cut you off?

How do you train for that though?

Cause that's, or what do you do?

Mona Akmal: Yeah, so a few things.

One, I believe in fasting because
hunger is a very, very powerful

motivator, and being able to train
yourself the power through and have

a meeting and, and, and get through
your day even though you are starving.

Is, is a great way to train yourself.

Second.

Interesting.

Okay.

Uh, I train with the fitness coach and,
uh, my explicit ask of her is, if I don't

feel like throwing up at the end of the
session, you have not done your job.

Um, I will go and client steps and,
uh, to the point of exhaustion.

Right?

So those are just ways
to be physically tough.

Mental toughness is, honestly, most of
it is having the discipline to show up

every morning, no matter how you feel.

You're hungover, you're depressed.

You heard really bad news.

The world is on fire.

Like, uh, my mom had covid and
I had covid and she was in the

ER and I was fundraising from my
car in the parking lot, right?

Yeah.

Mental toughness.

You just power through and
this is all building stamina.

This is, this does not
mean I am a superhero.

It just means I've been
practicing this for a long time.

That's how I would train for it.

Kevin Horek: Interesting.

That's, that's really good advice.

Okay.

Keep going.

Sorry.

Was there other,

Mona Akmal: uh, yeah, so I think one is
building mental and physical toughness.

Yeah.

Second is walking the path you are
supposed to walk because when you

know the path you're walking is right.

Uh, it actually serves as a,
uh, an immunization against

the doubt that comes up.

Right?

Yeah, that's, yeah.

There's nowhere else I would rather be,
there is nothing else I would rather do.

Right.

Yeah, if I know that and I am not
violating my principles and I am not

walking in someone else's shoes and
I'm not doing this because I want other

people to like me or think about me in a
certain way, my conviction is so strong

that whenever I have doubt, it's very
easy to get back to a place of faith.

And then third and last is, uh,
surround yourself with people

that you aspire to be like.

If you surround yourself, for
instance, I have stopped indulging

in conversations with friends who are
lifelong complainers because, uh, it

no longer serves me to be around that.

So that's fair.

Yep,

Kevin Horek: yep.

I get that.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Especially if they're not doing
anything to help themselves.

That's right.

It's like, okay, well what
are you doing to solve that?

Well, nothing.

It's like, well, then you,
nothing's gonna change for you.

Sorry.

Like it's just the reality of things.

That's exactly

Mona Akmal: right.

Yeah.

Kevin Horek: Interesting.

So you, you touched on something
though, uh, with surrounding yourself

with, like, how did you build the team
at Falcon then with those principles?

Because finding like-minded
people that you also kind of

aspire to be around, like.

It's hard.

Easier said than

Mona Akmal: done.

Yes.

So that's actually goes back to
the original question you had asked

about how and why, why Falcon?

So one, I was extremely confident in
my ability to hire from my network of

people that I've already worked with.

So the first five people at
Falcon, including my co-founder,

we've all known each other for.

15 plus years.

Okay.

Um, and not just known each
other socially, but actually have

worked with each other before.

So there is a shared language.

Yeah.

Kevin Horek: Second, which
is a big difference, right.

Working together and being
friends and knowing each other.

Mona Akmal: Yeah.

Yeah.

Fair enough.

Oh my God.

Huge difference.

Huge difference.

Yeah.

Second thing I think is instead
of coming up with aspirational

operating principles, we basically
said, Our operating principles will

be inferred from who we already are,
and we are unapologetic about it.

For instance, we are not
everyone's cup of tea as a company.

We're extremely intense.

Um, we love our craft.

We are ruthlessly honest with each other.

Good though, and it's good.

But you know, uh, Kevin, it's, it's,
um, It's surprising to me how many

people, uh, buy into it, uh, at the
conscious level, but at the subconscious

level, when they experience it,
they want nothing to do with it.

Right.

Um, yeah.

That's fair.

Yeah.

We're not accustomed to that kind
of honesty in, in the workplace.

Right.

And, and so that's been a struggle for us.

But again, the last thing I'll say
is, You have to believe that there are

people out there and you just have to
not be desperate and keep looking and

be rigorous about looking, because
to me, a lot of why people can't

hire people that are like them, it's
because they don't put in the time.

If you have to talk to a hundred
people to get one, that is

your type of person, do it.

It's just work power through.

Kevin Horek: Yeah.

Interesting.

So how do you manage though?

Those types of people that think
they want that brutal honesty, but

can't really handle it because,
and how do you screen for that?

Mona Akmal: Yeah.

So I'll give you a, uh, an honest answer
on this one, which is I would say about

75% of the time it doesn't work out okay.

And Okay.

Um, we have to let them go.

And I, I understand that that's a
politically incorrect answer, but when

you are as early stage as we are, right?

Yeah.

We're 30 people.

Um, it's very important to be
able to work in peak performance

mode, uh, which doesn't mean
it's a place for everyone, right?

And that's okay.

We don't have to be.

A place for everyone all the time.

We have to earn the right to get there.

So what we look for is diversity of
perspective, but uh, significant overlap

on values and operating principles.

Kevin Horek: Okay.

No, that, that makes sense.

And no, like, I, I appreciate
the brutal honesty.

I think, I think a lot more people
are, are basically doing that.

They're just not saying that.

Mona Akmal: That's exactly right.

So

Kevin Horek: I, I'm curious, we're
kind of coming to the end of the show.

Mm-hmm.

But what other advice would you give
to founders maybe that are, are at

a bit of an earlier stage or, or
maybe are struggling a little bit

with a company that's been around
it for a few years, like Falcon?

Mona Akmal: Yeah, absolutely.

Um, I'll say a couple of things.

One, Um, all of us in our dark days
compare ourselves with this, with this

mythical founder and this mythical
company that is doing really well, and

we compare ourselves to this mythical
creature and find ourselves lacking.

Yeah.

Um, here's the good news.

Every founder.

Is a wreck and every young
company is a shit show.

Yep.

And that's just the nature
of the path you are on.

Anyone that tells you
otherwise is just plain lying.

So stop.

Percent, hundred percent.

Yeah.

Like stop wallowing in this negative
thought pattern that somehow you are

and your company is less than, uh, those
other people that you see in TechCrunch.

It's a shit show all the way up and down.

Yeah.

Kevin Horek: Even bigger companies
too, that have been around for

decades or even probably worse.

Mona Akmal: Totally.

I mean, the years that, uh, Microsoft
was a Windows predominantly shop.

Yeah.

Uh, Azure hadn't happened yet, and Mac
was like, apple was eating our lunch.

Those were dark days for Microsoft and it
was an 80,000 person company back then.

Right.

Yeah.

Shit happens.

That's just the nature of doing business.

The second piece of advice I would have
is, uh, be all in, burn all the boats.

Uh, that's the only way to make progress.

All this bullshit about, you
know, I'm gonna do this job and

this side hustle, and then I'm
also gonna be an entrepreneur.

I don't believe in it because,
uh, building a company is a,

an all consuming experience.

It takes everything you've got
and more so if you are dabbling.

Don't expect the dabbling to be something
that other people wanna invest in.

Get behind or for it
to really go anywhere.

So either do it or don't do it.

Don't do this thing in the
middle where you're convincing

yourself that you're doing it.

To me, that's the equivalent of getting
a gym membership on January 1st and

thinking you've already been working out.

Right.

You gotta show up.

Uh, and then third and last
is invest in your personal

and professional development.

To me, reading books is
the best way to do that.

It teaches you discipline.

You are constantly nurturing
your brain with new ideas, and no

one is too busy to read a book.

So read.

Kevin Horek: Interesting.

How do you make time for that stuff then?

Because obviously you're busy.

Mona Akmal: I walk it out.

I read 24 books a year.

That's my goal.

Okay.

And I do it religiously.

One is an audible that I will listen
to and one is a book that I will read.

Um, okay.

How I make time for it
is, it's just important.

That's why it's gonna get done.

So I, you prioritize it?

Yep.

Whenever I'm driving, I will be
listening to a book and whenever

I am on, you know, free on the
weekends, I'm probably reading so,

Kevin Horek: Interesting.

No, I think that's actually
really good advice.

Thank you.

Sadly, we're outta time.

So how about we close with mentioning
where people can get more information

about yourself, Falcon, and any
other links you wanna mention?

Mona Akmal: Yeah, absolutely.

Uh, just reach out to me@monafalcon.ai.

It's Falcon with a K because the
C was extremely expensive, so,

uh, and uh, falcon.ai is also our
website and we're pretty responsive.

Kevin Horek: Perfect.

Well, I really appreciate you taking the
time outta your day to be on the show,

and I look forward to keeping in touch
with you and have a good rest of your day.

Thanks,

Mona Akmal: Kevin.

It was great to be here.

Thank you.

Okay, bye bye.